Our people

Our people

The Centre consists of 25 members each providing a unique blend of theoretical conceptualisation, experimental expertise with practical development and application. Members of the Centre are researchers who have built international reputations in the area of psychology and other disciplines.

Executive Committee

Director

Professor Jennifer Hudson

Professor Hudson’s passion is understanding the factors that contribute to children’s emotional health, and continuing to improve the services we provide for children and families. Her research endeavours to improve our understanding of the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to excessive anxiety and fear. Professor Hudson is committed to developing, evaluating and disseminating programs to continually improve outcomes for children’s emotional health. View Professor Hudson's TEDx presentation.

Founding Director

Distinguished Professor Ronald Rapee

Professor Rapee specialises in mental health, especially in anxiety and related disorders across the lifespan. He is best known for his theoretical models of the development of anxiety disorders as well as for his creation of empirically validated intervention programs. His recent work has focused on prevention of anxiety and depression as well as on public dissemination and access to empirically validated programs.

Clinic Director

Doctor Heidi Lyneham

Doctor Lyneham has been a clinical psychologist and research fellow at CEH for over the 15 years. She has focused her research on improving assessment and treatment methods for emotional problems experienced by children and adolescents, and has aimed to improve access to services for families from rural areas. More recently Doctor Lyneham has had an interest in developing competency and training of mental health professionals, collaborating on the first book focused on the competencies needed to treat child and adolescent anxiety and depression.

Professor Viviana Wuthrich

Associate Professor Wuthrich’s research predominantly focuses on the understanding and treatment of anxiety and mood disorders in children, adolescents and older adults. She has developed a number of manualised and computerised treatment programs for children and older adults that have been shown to be efficacious in randomised controlled trials including the Cool Kids Anxiety Management Program, Cool Teens and Chilled Out computerised programs for anxious adolescents, and the Ageing Wisely program for comorbid anxiety and depression in older adults.

Co-director Higher Degree Research

Associate Professor Cathy McMahon

Associate Professor McMahon’s research focuses on the psychology of pregnancy, parent-infant relationships and the determinants of parenting. She has led several longitudinal studies on pregnancy adjustment, parenting and child development in the context of infertility, assisted conception and perinatal mood disorders.

Senior Lecturer

Doctor Lorna Peters

Senior Lecturer Doctor Lorna Peters has been conducting research in the area of anxiety and, in particular, social anxiety since the late 1980's. Her research has examined efficacy of treatments for social anxiety disorders and development of psychometric tools to enhance diagnosis and measurement of severity of psychopathology.

Postdoctoral Researcher

Doctor Lauren McLellan

Doctor Lauren McLellan is a psychologist and early career researcher with expertise and special interest in clinical research, particularly understanding and effectively treating anxiety in youth. Her research aims to use technology to increase access to effective treatments for anxious youth, especially for those in rural and remote communities.

Research team

Clinic team

The Centre for Emotional Health Clinic team are highly skilled professionals in the area of emotional health. The Clinic Team, headed up by Clinic Director Doctor Heidi Lyneham, is a psychology research clinic aimed at furthering our understanding of emotional disorders and improving methods of treatment.

Ambassador

Michael Wells, NSW Waratahs

Michael Wells started his Rugby Union career as a member of the Australian Under 20's Rugby Team in 2011 followed by attendance at the ARU National Academy in 2012 and 2013. After attending the National Academy, he played for Northern Suburbs in the Shute Shield Competition. He was offered a contract with the Australian Men's Sevens Team in 2014, competing in the IRB 7's World Series in 2014-15. In 2016, the team with whom he played the IRB 7's World Series successfully qualified for the Rio Olympics. Michael moved on from 7's in 2016 to join the ACT Brumbies Super Rugby Team. As part of that team he gained 7 caps before joining the NSW Waratahs Super Rugby Team in 2017. To date, Michael has achieved another 25 caps as a Waratahs member.

When he's not playing for the Waratahs, Michael is actively involved with raising awareness about mental health, particularly for young men. He has worked closely with BATYR to highlight the importance of reducing stigma and raising awareness of mental health issues in society and featured in a promotional video for BATYR that played in the lead up to the Charity Round game against the Blues in May 2018.

As the Ambassador for the Centre for Emotional Health, Michael will continue to shine a light on mental health issues by participating in the following events in 2018:

(26 August 9am to 12pm) Rotary North Ryde Fun Fun at Macquarie University. Michael to open the event, participate in 2km walk or 5km run and promote event on social media.

(TBA) Portraits of Recovery - crowding funding campaign - Michael to attend an afternoon meet and greet with donors as a reward for their contribution to the Portraits of Recovery project.

(October) CEH and Future Students - Health and Wellbeing Lecture on study stress. Michael to deliver short (5 minutes) talk on his experience juggling study and elite sport commitments & promote discussion on social media.